Unlike with most print series, the
prints of the Interior series preceded, rather than followed, the
paintings of similar subjects. Preliminary discussions about the prints
began in the fall of 1989. Lichtenstein created eight small collages
for the project in his New York studio, and in early 1990 he arrived at
Gemini G.E.L. to begin work. With the exception of La Sortie
(Corlett 248), the Interiors are based on advertisements, most of which
Lichtenstein cut from the Yellow Pages of telephone directories. He
enlarged the advertisements using an opaque projector, traced them, and
then, after turning the tracing paper over, extensively reworked the
images. Once a composition had been reworked to his satisfaction, he
traced the drawing onto museum board, at which point the collage
elements were added.

The images were transferred to the
woodblocks by projecting them in reverse and tracing the lines onto the
wood in blue. Lichtenstein then reworked each drawing on the block
using black tape in various widths to establish the desired lines. The
edges of the tape were then outlined on the wood, and the tape removed.
Lichtenstein then cut these outlines, leaving broad open areas of the
blocks to be cleared by assistants (using routers where needed). These
became the key blocks for each print. Mylar tracings were made from
proofs pulled from the key blocks and used to prepare the blocks,
screens, and plates for the color areas.

Some areas -- such as 'Blondie's leg' in La Sortie
-- were added to the block like a jigsaw-puzzle piece; its silhouette
was cut out, and it was fitted with dowels on the back so it could be
inked separately and then attached to the block. The dots were made
with the sandblasting method also used for the Brushstroke Figures
series (Corlett 226-33).

For all of the images in the series, the
artist worked with black-line and/or color proofs, adding collage
elements to explore the possibility of creating state prints. Only one
state print, of La Sortie (see Corlett 304 for state), was ever produced.

With
this series, Gemini began using a blind stamp that included the
copyright symbol, the year of publication, the artist's initials, and
the Gemini logo.